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LEEDS FESTIVAL SERIES // Chapter 4: 2013

Friday, June 27, 2014

Seeing as I've only been to Leeds four times this is where the series ends (for now as I'm going again this year -YAY)! 2013 was a completely different year. It was the first year I was in a relationship so I had Ellis to look after me. It was the first year I wasn't with my mum. It was the first year I wasn't in guest camp! As Ellis couldn't get a guest ticket too I camped with him and my friends Lucy and Poppy in standard camping and although I could use guest for the loo - let's say Standard camping scarred me for life.

Me and Ellis arrived with my mum, Stan and Shaun and my mum helped us take our tent and stuff into our campsite. We ended up setting up camp right next to the campsite dj, toilets and food area - worst idea ever. Me and Ellis then went to the car park to meet my friends and then helped them set up their tent. We then got drinking away and then went on a wander around the 'village' and then back to our tent to chillax. Around half past 8 the sky decided to hate us and it absolutely chucked it down with rain, thunder and lightening too! At this point me and Ellis hadn't even blown up our bed and I got extremely stressed out and decided to just say "I'm going to sleep" and then we nodded off together in the cold, wet tent. At about 11 ish we were woken by my mum, Stan and Shaun who were very drunk and wondered why we were asleep. My mum got Shaun to blow up our bed and then me and Ellis fell back to sleep again!

The next day we were woken up to lots of glorious...mud. We grabbed a bacon butty and a coffee and got a little excited for the bands ahead of us. We deposited our vodka into water bottles and snuck them in with our hoods off our jumpers. Poppy however decided to drink a litre of vodka before she even entered the place because she was scared of getting caught. Lucy and Poppy went off for a bit and me and Ellis went to see Hadouken with my mum, Stan and Shaun. They were brill! We then met up with Poppy and Lucy to see Don Broco and half way through Poppy decided she needed a wee so me and Ellis walked her to the toilets. It seemed like she was in there for ages and then we got a text asking where we were as she was at the main stage. We then got a phone call off a guy on her phone saying that he'd found Poppy crying. Sigh. So we went to find her and she ended up getting very very sick. She got seen by a medic in the crowd and they took her into the Welfare Centre next to the main stage whilst me, Ellis and Lucy sat with her. The Editors were on at this point and me and Ellis were dancing a little to them whilst Poppy was very sick. We then got told to leave as we were taking up too much space in the Welfare Centre so we went to watch The Lumineers, Fall Out Boy and Nine Inch Nails with my mum ect. Lucy appeared during Biffy Clyro (who were unfortunately not on top form as usual). She'd been with Poppy ALL DAY. But Poppy had to go home...what a great start.

The next day it was actually quite sunny. Me and Ellis went to buy a BMTH poster and then tried to queue up to meet them, only to be told "the queue is closed". My dreams were shattered and I didn't meet Oli Sykes. We then met Lucy, my mum, Stan and Shaun and went to see Kodaline which made us happier. We then went to see BMTH on the main stage who KILLED IT. I can't believe I just said 'killed it'. Me and Ellis went back to our tent to get drunk. Weirdly though we didn't feel like drinking all the alcohol we'd brought with us. Just before System of a Down played we headed to the main stage to meet my mum ect. As we were walking the main stage was playing "Everlong" by Foo Fighters which is my mums favourite song and I said to Ellis "we need to find my mum fast so we can dance"! We then saw her in her big purple poncho already drunk dancing so I joined in! We then got pretty drunk watching System of a Down and going a little crazy to Chop Suey! Me and Ellis then went right into the crowd to see Green Day (Ellis' favourite band) and we made a few friends there. Green Day were amazing and we danced all night. We then found out that Shaun had fallen and hurt his leg badly and was in the Welfare Centre...what is it with everyone I went with ending up in the Welfare Centre?! Me and Ellis ended the night with fried chicken and noodles. Yum yum yum!

On the final day, Lucy bought her boyfriend a ticket and got him to come and meet her which was v.v.v good because then she would be happier! Me and Ellis went and bought 'souvenirs' - a BMTH and Biffy Clyro t-shirt and then went to watch Lower Than Atlantis and The Blackout and Earlwolf. We then saw Twin Atlantic who were pretty good and then we sat on the grass in the sun to watch White Lies who truly were great. We then met up with my mum to watch Foals in the lovely sunshine and horrid mud. We then went to have a drink and then met up with my mum again in the NME tent to see Jake Bugg. The NME tent was pretty empty due to Eminem playing so that was good for me. Alt-J were such a brilliant end to the weekend as they were so relaxing and thought provoking. I loved dancing to Taro with Ellis.

After packing up and heading to the car the next morning I met The Midnight Beast. I cried because I didn't have my camera and they were my favourite people during high school when I was being bullied. I've met them before but meeting them again really made the weekend just a little bit better.

So that's the end of the Leeds Festival series. To read the rest of them click on the links below. There will be many more festival posts to come as I am a festival fanatic.